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“Online Crisis Communication Response and Engagement in the Digital Age”

~ Julian Matthews,

Director, Trinetizen Media

PUBLIC RELATIONS COLLOQUIUM:

“MANAGING CRISIS IN A DIGITAL MEDIA

ENVIRONMENT”

Organised by UiTM, Dec 4th, 2014

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Nov 23rd, 2014: LRT danger

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Group MD tweets1.19pm Nov 23

1.21pm Nov 23

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Facebook post Tweet @MyRapidKL

Re-tweet media tweets

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trinetizen.com 6

2012: Old pic from 2006 posted as new

Be ready to act fast

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Good news, get it out fast,Bad news, get it out faster *

*Caveat: Information is verified

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Reactions in a crisis

POOR

Defensive – take it personally

Decline to comment

Deny or lie

Deflect – taichi, play blame game

Downplay

BETTERAccept – that it has

happened

Acknowledge – to those affected, media, public

Assure – show you care, calm fears

Apologize (if you have to) and be specific, express regret, suggest remedy

ACT – assess your allies, plan your action, act out your plan

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The numbers

100 hours of video uploaded per minute

1.3B active users16M in Malaysia

600M active users

550M active users

43M mobile subscribersin Malaysia

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Characteristics of “viral video”

• Acceleration: Spreads fast

• Amplification: A small issue

appears larger than it is

• Authentication: If it seems real,

people pass it on. (Some users can

spot fakes fast.)

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Digital media training

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MH370

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Empathy for companies/orgs

• Age of the unfiltered: Many newsfeeds, streams, sources of information

• Empowered citizenry: Everyone can be a journalist/publisher – exponential growth of mobile devices

• Lack of resources: One-person show, no budget, too many new apps

• Untrained staff: Management’s old-school thinking, slow to embrace technology, unwilling to change or spend on training

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Does your organisationhave any of these in place?

• Social Media Monitoring

• Social Media Policy & Guidelines

• Social Media Audit

• Social Media Training

• Social Media Community Outreach

• Social Media Crisis Response Flowchart

• Social Media Crisis Communications Plan

• Social Media Crisis Simulation

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Takeaways1. SOCIAL MEDIA: Plan and setup a social media

presence: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Vine, Google+. Use your social media channels to engage and provide feedback from your constituents, followers, fans, stakeholders

2. REPUTATION: Video is going to impact your work in profound ways. A single video can damage your reputation and spread like wildfire. Be prepared to respond with video.

3. PERCEPTION: The perception of the public, how people view what you do, is just as important as what you do. Invest in training for social media skills, video skills, crisis comms and PR skills.

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“In the past you were what you

owned. Now you are what you

share,”Charles Leadbeater